Haunting in Apartment 34
by Apocalyptical Angel
Summary: Chuck left Blair without a word, 10 months later, she finally gets news of him. Is it enough to offer her hope at a happily ever after, or will it break her apart all over again?
1. Haunting

**Haunting in Apartment 34**

 **Summary;** Chuck left Blair without a word, 10 months later, she finally gets news of him. Is it enough to offer her hope at a happily ever after, or will it break her apart all over again?

 **Rating;** M (mild sexual scenes and implications, nothing dangerously explicit mentioned)

 **Pairing;** Chuck and Blair. Its a stand alone fiction, it doesn't fit into any series/time arc and doesn't disclose who Gossip Girl is.

 **Disclaimer;** I own nothing except the heartbreak that drove me to write this. I make no profit, merely use this as therapy for my heart.

 **Note** _ **:**_ It's not happy and soppy and lovey dovey. I started this whilst in the middle of a terrible heartbreak (may it forever rain on the bastard whenever he leaves his apartment) and needed somewhere to write my feelings out. So if you want happiness, there are tonnes of smutty smutty Chair stories waiting for you. If you want some misery with a slight possibility of happiness, carry on reading darling.

Also, when I mention ghosts, they are metaphorical ghosts, Blair doesn't actually see them. But I think you'll get what I mean, we all have our fair share of ghosts walking around.

Ah, also, I wrote two endings; one at the start of my mood swings, where It's a not so happy one. And the other as I fixed myself and figured you might want a happily ever after, so, you get to chose which ending you read for my story. Chapter 2: happy ending. Chapter 3; realistic ending.

* * *

 **10 months after heartbreak**

 _B, you okay?_ A text from Serena buzzed in her hand.

Blair rested against the mirrored wall of the elevator, waiting for the doors to open to her apartment.

 _It's just a headache, Serena._

But it wasn't a headache, it was a heartache that physically crippled her. A fresh hit to her soul.

 _You know that's not what I meant._

Blair dropped the mobile in her purse, ignoring her best friend's questioning intent. Blair took a breath and prepared herself to greet the ghosts that kept her company. The first came with the opening of the elevator door.

 _Ding._

 _The elevator doors opened but that didn't deter either of them. Chuck was still intent upon sliding his hand further up her thigh under the Oscar de la renta skirt she wore. His lips pressing to the column of her throat as he tugged her back closer to his front._

 _The back of Blair's mind was aware her mother could have returned early from work but the likelihood was slim._

" _Chuck, move." she breathed, attempting to step with him into the apartment. He held her back and she couldn't stop the giggle that left her as the only thing to move was his hand to her panty-line. "Apartment." she prompted with a laugh._

" _Apartment." he breathed roughly against her neck in agreement. She felt his thigh press against her and walked with him, still tightly held in his arms as they entered the apartment._

Jimmy Choo's tapped out a slow walk across the hallway, she set her jacket on the side table and slipped off her beloved heels into her hands. They had done their job for the night and she had the sore feet as evidence. She walked into the parlour, her eyes skimming over the hauntings she couldn't ignore.

" _It's math." Blair complained. "I have no words for how much I hate math."_

" _Have Izzy do it for you?" Chuck purred, his lips trying to get her attention as they prowled her neckline._

" _And suffer her grade?" she scoffed. "I'd rather ask Humpfrey."_

" _So why don't you?" his finger toyed with the top of the lace bra he could see under the white blouse, calm strokes back and forth until he had her full attention._

" _Unlike some people, I earn my grade." They both knew the implication of her tone. Chuck didn't care, but it was evidence enough that Blair was in a sour mood. Thankfully he knew the cure. He took the maths book from her hand, silencing her rebuttal with a kiss and pressed her to the couch, his weight held carefully above her._

" _You gunna tell me what's wrong or am I going to have to drag it out of you. One. Slow. Orgasm. At. A. Time."_

 _Blair swallowed nervously, took a breath and then launched into a tirade about how her new minion had stolen her spotlight._

The ghosts schemed on that sofa for the next half an hour, conceiving a plan doubly as vicious as one she would make alone. Blair looked to the couch in longing, he had always been able to read her like a book. And yet, she hadn't been able to see what happened even when she was nose to nose with it. She still didn't understand it. Had there been signs she had missed? Should she have foreseen this and taken action? The same thoughts had driven her insane over the past 10 months. She still had no answer for them.

She walked past the ghosts making out on the windowsill and went into the kitchen. She was greeted by the ghoul she both hated and loved, it was her worst moment, possibly Chuck's best.

" _Blair?" he entered the kitchen to find her on the floor, sobbing into her knees an empty pie dish on the floor next to her. He connected the dots with ease._

" _I'm alright. Go away." she mumbled._

 _He'd heard some gossip on the playground, some nasty rumour that Georgina had taken back crown from Blair with one accidentally clever move._

" _You really going to let Georgina do this to you?" he crouched down, moving the dish onto the counter and wrapping his fingers around the fork she held in a scrunched fist._

" _Go away." she sobbed again, turning her head away from him._

 _He smelled the hand soap on her, the overly powerful cloud of perfume; she'd already purged the meal she'd scoffed._

" _Give me the fork and we'll watch Audrey while we plan revenge."_

 _Her fingers released the fork but she didn't move._

 _Finally, she looked up at him with wet eyes._

" _Why aren't you yelling at me?" she whispered. He ran his fingers underneath her eyes to remove the tears and smiled at her. He extended his hand and helped her stand. As soon as she was set to rights on her prada heels, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in for the hug she would never ask for._

She'd like to say it was the last time she'd purged when he found her, but it wasn't true. Truth was, she had lasted a long time without needing to while he stood by her side. She liked to sit and live in this memory, it was when Chuck had really stepped outside the 'lust buddy' role, he'd actually cared and not been afraid to show it. It was a memory she could look back on without crying.

Not all of the other ghosts were as friendly.

The haunting in her bedroom definitely didn't care about her feelings.

Blair poured herself a glass of wine while she texted back Serena. Serena had been a good friend through all of this, Blair shouldn't ignore her and risk losing her as well.

Serena had been the first to know after Blair herself had realised. Serena had found her on the second day, after Blair had spent her day between crying fits and bursts of anger. Her mobile had been broken from all the times she'd started typing out a text only to recall she had no number for him, self-preservation demanded she stop, so it had been thrown against the wall. Serena came with false hope, that maybe, somehow, possibly, he had an excuse. But both of them knew deep down, Chuck was gone.

She'd wished ill on him one moment then deeply apologised for the thought moments later. She still loved him, even if it was one way.

 _Audrey night?_ Serena's text had come straight back in. Blair tapped back a quick reply, that she was going to bed and would see her tomorrow. She polished off the wine and headed to the stairs, ready for the next ghost to torment her.

" _I'm being ridiculous?!" Blair shouted, leaning over the stair rail. "Have you even taken a look at yourself, you still have her lipstick on your shirt!"_

" _Are you really going to stand there and tell me there isn't a wet patch from your grinding on Carter's leg?!"_

" _We are so over!" Blair picked the photo frame from the wall, ready to launch at him._

" _Over?" he repeated darkly. "We were never anything to start with." He walked away from her, hands in pockets._

 _Blair dropped the photo on the stairs and chased after him, catching him by the elevator._

" _How dare you? How can you say we were nothing?!"_

" _You forget we only started for you to get over Nate." He didn't need to shout, the words were damaging enough spoken in his deep bass tones. He stepped into the called elevator and neither said a word as he left._

This ghost, she had an understanding with, even if she couldn't hate Chuck right now, in that moment she did, because even though they fought, she knew she wouldn't lose him. Like most other fights, this fight has lasted a week before they were on each other like sexually deprived rabbits. They'd have episodes like that, where they'd split, use someone else to exact hurt and then collide in verbal battle before making peace the most animalistic way. It never used to last long from war to roses. She wished she could say there was a fight to attribute his absence to, but the simple truth; there wasn't. Things had been really good.

The train of her dress followed her up the stairs, the gold and black shimmered in the dim lights. As she climbed the steps she slid the black teardrop earrings out, the golden leaf necklace followed, both set to be back in her dresser.

The dress; it was beautiful, a strapless form hugging her curves, an elegant high-low hem let her dance and waltz while showcasing a beauty that was purely unrivalled. She was a vision tonight, beautiful and daring and yet home early from the party of the year.

It was no secret to anyone what had happened tonight; gossip had spread like wildfire. From the first phone buzz in a room of socialites, whispers passed until they reached her.

Serena had been by her side in a moment, an arm around her shoulder, guiding her away from the eyes. Blair had been too stunned to do anything but follow.

Chuck Bass had proposed.

To Eva Coupeau.

Blair sighed, sitting at the top of the stairs as she let the information sink in. For the last 10 months, she'd had no idea of what he was doing, she had a vague impression of where he was based on the Bass jet, but she had always thought he'd be back. It was the curtain call for her remaining hope tonight, the last inch of the open door kicked shut. Chuck had moved on.

One part of her breathed relief, it was a reprieve from the not-knowing that teared her apart, perhaps she could stop reaching for him now. The rest of her ached deeper than the first blow of realising he was gone. All she had were the ghosts in apartment 34 to keep her company. The mix of ghouls and spirits to mess with her emotions all night and day. Memories that played with her so she could never forget.

At first, she'd tear apart memories for any sign of what was going to happen, she'd dig into every hand placement for some explanation. Now, they were scenes in the background, she could walk past them without needing to stare and over analyse; there was nothing left she hadn't ripped apart.

Blair turned her eyes to the bedroom door, she supposed she should make some efforts to go to bed.

 _Chuck had Blair pinned against the bedroom doorway with one hand, the other was inside her, curling fingers in the best way to make her scream._

But then the ghosts would still remain. She turned her head back from the bitter memories. He wasn't hers anymore. He'd be making all of those types of memories with someone else. Not just someone though. Eva Coupeau. Maybe Blair had been blessed with the love of the boy, but Eva clearly had the man.

Chuck had been clear with Blair, that however much he loved her, he didn't believe in marriage. Blair had spent an entire week trying to change his mind, he'd been amused, annoyed, and finally they'd blown out an argument from it. She'd agreed to not mention it and he'd agreed to let her know if his mind ever did change.

" _Blair," he sighed, holding her close in his arms on the loveseat. "If it means anything, you're the closest I've ever gotten."_

" _What?" she asked, confused by the context while she watched the chic flick intently, she was sure the bride's lover was about to storm the church and insist upon breaking off the wedding._

" _If there was anyone I would ever want to marry, it would be you." he spoke in a quiet breath. If his lips hadn't been next to her ear, she wouldn't have heard it. She turned around in his arms. "But, my answer is still the same." he quickly amended before she got ideas._

So she sat on the stairs wondering what the hell was so special about Eva Coupeau to make him change his mind. Her hope had been shot in the heart tonight, her self-esteem was going down with it. Hope had been a horrible friend over the last 10 months, it build her up only to crush her all over again. Everytime the Bass jet would fuel up, she'd put on her best dress, align her makeup to perfection and clear her schedule to have a long fight and make up sex, but hope had crushed her enough times that she stopped checking in on Bass and his private plane.

Blair stood, unwilling to let herself be crushed all over again and returned to her preferred company of the ghosts of her bedroom, as taunting as they were, they were better than the present situation.

Blair opened the door to greet the ménage of ghosts.

The rug at the end of her bed always greeted her first.

" _Don't you dare answer that call!" Blair hissed, slapping him as he reached for the phone to check the caller, all the while, his hips pistoned him slowly in and out of her. The pace was worth the carpet burns though._

" _I'm sure Carter won't mind." he grinned at her sickly. The dark Chuck Bass that adored her to unknown limits._

" _Don't you dare, Bass." Her fingers turning to claws on his wrist._

" _Shouldn't he get to hear how happy you are without him?" he taunted and pressed accept on the call with one hand, the other pressing circling against her clit. She couldn't help but moan out loud._

Blair reached her arms behind her, tugging on the zip to release her from the dress as she walked to the chair by the bathroom.

 _You do know what today is right?" Blair asked from inside the bathroom, door closed._

" _I imagine there was a reason I bought you pink peonies and macaroons." he purred, eagerly sat on the edge of the bed awaiting his reward. His fingers made quick work of the buttons on his shirt in anticipation._

" _And you know that only good boyfriends get treats?"_

" _Have I been anything but?" he challenged, knowing she had tamed him through and through._

 _The bathroom door opened, revealing lingerie he had never imagined her to be in, spinning his head and awakening his senses. "Blair." Her name was a reverent prayer._

She folded the dress over the chair neatly, her shoes placed underneath it. She set the jewellery besides the ghosts on her dresser.

" _No, no." His hand came up to cover hers, his lips shimmering with her juices as he knelt between her legs. "Leave them on." He knocked her hands from her stockings, running his up and down her legs before returning to his task, his tongue running up her slit in a way that had her losing all thought._

She collected the pyjamas from the couple on the loveseat.

" _And what do you expect to do with those?" Blair asked pointedly to the fur handcuffs he held from a finger._

" _Think we can come up with something."_

" _I think we cannot." she answered shortly. "I don't know who you planned to take down the bondage rabbit hole, but it isn't me." she scoffed._

" _Perhaps a gentler approach." He stood from her. Her curiosity demanded she sit up and keep her eyes on him. He turned back around with the cashmere red scarf he'd picked from the floor. "Hands out Blair." She couldn't hide the grin. She made him work for it, but the night ended with his scarf tickling him as he thrust into her, her tied hands making fists of pleasure on his back._

Finally, she faced the bed, embracing what she had been avoiding as she unclipped the garter belt holding up her stockings.

" _Say it again." she whispered in the darkness, her fingers tracing his jawline._

" _You're a junkie."_

" _I like hearing it."_

" _You like making me say it." he refuted, capturing her absent fingers with a kiss and holding them to his chest._

" _Say it." she purred, her lips held above his. "Please." The word echoed around in his head, a curse and a prayer. He met those gorgeous brown eyes and told her what she wanted to hear, a truth he'd held in for a long time._

" _I love you."_

 _Her answering smile was quickly consumed with her lips pressing to his._

She changed clothes quickly, avoiding the couple that made love in front of her mirror, making eye contact throughout. She didn't give the ferocious pairing fucking against her bedroom wall any attention either. She cleaned off her make-up in the bathroom ignoring her own singular ghost that tempted her to follow suit and purge into the toilet time and time again. She wasn't going to lie, she had been immensely familiar with that ghost the first month after Chuck left, her own way of punishing herself for not being perfect enough for him to stay.

Now her reflection was healthy, but there were rock hard eyes that had cried too many tears staring back at her.

She owed a lot to Serena, she'd helped her get back on her feet, pushed her into her therapy sessions again and brought her back out of her shell. But even Serena couldn't help the deep ache inside of her for Chuck. What if he was her only shot at true love and she had lost it forever? What if the universe had made an error and what was meant to be hers had gone to Eva Coupeau instead? What if Blair was destined to be alone?

She'd tried dating, she really had, but everyone paled in comparison to Chuck, he'd almost ensured that by being so perfect. She couldn't stand for them to kiss her, to her, it still felt like she was cheating on his memory. So, she stopped trying.

The ghosts in that bathtub giggled as he splashed her, then moaned as his fingers slid into her, his mouth sealing over her nipple.

She smiled softly at them.

 _Chuck wrapped the white towel around Blair, rubbing her warm._

" _Where's my-" she stopped, knowing exactly what had happened. "Where did you put my underwear?"_

" _What underwear?" he played coy, reaching to take the bobble from her hair, he loved it so much more when it was down in curls and spirals for his fingers to wind in._

" _I put out my underwear for after the bath. Before someone so rudely invited themselves to it."_

" _Haven't seen them." he lied smoothly. "Looks like you'll have to sleep naked."_

" _I have other underwear." she stated, walking back into her room to her wardrobe._

 _Chuck cut her off._

" _It must be underwear migration season, I have it on good authority any other underwear you select will also go missing." he teased._

They'd been planning to go to the Kingston manor in the Hamptons before he left her. It was no secret how much she loved spending summers there. The Kingstons had finally conceived a child and moved out of the city, Chuck had instantly put an offer on the manor, buying it for himself, knowing how much Blair adored the Victorian house and the beautiful spacious rooms that the pure white shutters hid. Blair heard he sold it since.

Perhaps Eva had different taste, perhaps she preferred a town house, perhaps Chuck was buying her one now. Perhaps he'd be planning their wedding in her family's church. Perhaps he was planning a family as well.

Blair furiously rubbed under her eyes, the tears needing to be vanquished. Blair couldn't con Chuck into marriage, she had no hope of children from him, but perhaps Eva could do that as well.

Blair swept out her arm in anger, the lotion bottles knocked onto the bathroom floor with a clatter.

Chuck had probably forgotten all about Blair, while Blair was never 2 minutes away from a thought about him. He had probably discarded her into the part of his mind he kept all his other forgetful ladies and one night stands.

Blair stormed into her room and grabbed her phone, the third replacement since heartbreak had hit, opened the gossip girl blast.

She didn't look like anything new.

Blonde hair, slim body, long legs and more than a handful breasts.

She was pretty, beautiful even.

But nothing Chuck hadn't had before.

Why did she deserve such a high honour when Blair didn't even get a reason for him to leave?

Blair looked at the man curled around Eva. It was Chuck, but it wasn't the Chuck she knew. There was no scheme in his eyes, no glint of darkness hovering over him. He was smart and organised and… he was happy. Truly happy to be there. Utterly content.

Adulthood had robbed Chuck Bass of his playboy persona, it had settled him into a man any woman would be proud to have. Adulthood made him the man that women didn't expect the worst from; he was dependable now.

Anger bubbled afresh inside her, she deserved that kind of Bass. She had worked hard for that kind of Bass.

" _You don't understand!" he snapped. "I already am my father."_

" _Don't you dare think that, you are nothing like him!"_

" _Why not, I lie, I cheat. I make promises based on nothing and I gamble with other people's savings." His business deal had come back to bite him in the ass, he'd risked a lot for it and had only saved himself by getting into bed with the wrong kind of people, doing it the wrong way, for the right reasons._

" _Your father would do all of these things. But he wouldn't give a shit about it." She finally reached for him and he let her. "Your father wouldn't care that it's wrong. But you do, and you know it's only a temporary fix until you can set things right again. You will make it right, and that alone proves you are nothing like your father." He seemed to calm marginally and she wrapped her arms around him as he stared out of the window. "And you have me. I won't let you turn into your father. I promise."_

She had stood by Chuck when he'd tumbled down into the bottom of a bottle and refused to stand. She had lifted Chuck up from himself and in turn, he had held her when the world had crashed around her and her plans for her fashion line.

Her phone vibrated in her hand. Probably Serena panicking because she hadn't replied yet.

Serena would wait.

Blair slumped into the corner of her bedroom.

She supposed she should get rid of the things he'd bought her now he'd moved on. They lived in a box at the bottom of her wardrobe, mostly clothes and jewellery, a few trinkets, a book or two. The hope that he was coming back had gone.

Just like Chuck; gone.

10 months ago she had woken up in his apartment. She'd had trouble sleeping through the thunderstorm outside but finally had slept at around 3am, curled into his side. But when she'd woken, although the sky had settled, everything in her world changed.

" _Chuck?" she asked, blurry eyed. His 8am alarm was going off and he was nowhere to be seen. She rolled over and slapped it quiet. He usually turned it off if he'd woken before it. Blair laid back, ready for another 15 minutes of beauty rest before he brought her breakfast, but her brain registered something was wrong._

 _There was no breakfast smell._

 _Even when he was running late, he still made her something, even if it was fruit and yoghurt. He had too much paranoia over her eating disorder returning to not feed her breakfast. She slid out of bed, rubbing her eyes. "Chuck?" she called again, stumbling into her dressing gown over the end of her side of the bed and padded barefoot into the kitchen._

 _No Bass to be found._

" _Chuck?" she called as he checked the entire apartment. He'd left._

 _A business meeting?_

 _She went back into the bedroom only to notice his entire half of the bedroom was changed. The bottle of whiskey was empty, his wardrobe doors open and half of the clothes missing. On a whim, she looked under the bed; his suitcase was missing too. Had he forgotten a meeting abroad? She unplugged her phone from charge, noting his charger was also gone. No text._

 _Blair walked swiftly around the apartment, looking for a note. She checked the bedding in case he had left a note on his pillow and she had kicked it aside in her sleep._

 _Where the hell was he?_

 _Blair was starting to panic, was something wrong?_

 _She raced to his den, the laptop missing from its usual place. Chuck only used that laptop at home, he had another it synced to at work so he didn't need it for business trips. Was his other one broken?_

 _She dialled his phone, something was definitely wrong._

 _A ringing tone came straight to her ears and she followed it. It led her to the front door to the apartment. She knelt slowly before the door to the ringing device that showed a picture of her smiling at central park; it was his favourite photo of her._

 _She stopped the noise quickly. The phone sat tidily and square. Placed, not dropped._

 _A darkness grew where her panic had bloomed._

 _There was one definitive answer to Chuck leaving._

 _She raced to his den, scuffing her knees on the carpet as she, too quickly, knelt before the built-in safe._

 _Please, please, she begged._

 _The code remained as it was; the anniversary of the night in his limo, but opened to nothing._

 _He'd cleaned out the safe._

 _His passport, his emergency cash._

 _No, not completely empty._

 _Photo's were stashed at the back, photo's of Blair and him in various embraces and at various events._

 _He'd taken everything but her._

 _Everything but a reminder of her._

Blair's phone vibrated again, drawing her to the present. Serena was probably two seconds from storming her apartment.

Blair rolled her eyes and opened up her messages. Three were from Serena, but one was from an 11-digit number she didn't know.

 _We should get a coffee, catch up. Antonio's 9am tomorrow. – CB._

* * *

If you want the fairytale-esque ending, go ahead to Chapter 2.  
If you want the reality of what probably does happen (from a pessimist), go to Chapter 3.  
Feel free to read either, neither or both.

If you happen to be going through a break-up that cuts your soul apart. Keep on going. I **promise** it gets easier. I still absolutely adore the bastard that told me he didn't love me anymore, but I don't cry anymore over him.


	2. Fairytale Ending

**Fairytale ending**

Blair had woken from fitful dreams, she'd barely slept all night, yet she put on her game face that said everything was alright and dressed to look perfect. Chuck's text was perfectly ambiguous of his intention and she hadn't dared to reply in case it was a hallucination in her self-spiralling depreciation. If she was going crazy, then she was just a lady having a coffee by herself at a local coffee shop at 9am. If she wasn't, then she had no idea what to expect.

Blair checked herself in the shops windows reflection, subtly checking if Chuck had arrived early before smoothing out her skirt and entering to order a caramel latte from the young server and finding a seat where she could see the door.

She took her first sip at 8:55am, perpetually early due to Waldorf good-impression instilled behaviour. But a thought struck her, his text hadn't implied as much but what if the 'we' that should catch up was not Blair and Chuck, but Blair, Chuck and Eva.

Horror struck through her and she stood, coffee in hand, ready to bolt. There was no way she was ready for that.

"Leaving already? I haven't even said a word." The smooth tones of Chuck Bass came sailing right to her ears, thundering her heart into high gear and lifting her eyes.

He looked just as good as her ghostly memories of him did. Like nothing had changed. His hand touched the small of her back and he urged her back to sitting in the booth. He slid in next to her and flagged down the waitress.

He waited until he had his black coffee before he spoke. "I owe you an explanation." he stated. "But, it's not exactly suitable for here."

"You owe it me." She none-to-subtly kicked him under the table. "Start talking." she smiled.

"How about we start with pleasantries?" he asked lightly, a chuckle on his breath, his arm outstretched to line the booth behind her. She could smell his aftershave, it hadn't changed. "Gossip girl says you're single."

"Gossip girl says you're engaged." she countered. "Though imagining the great Bass playboy leashed to one woman is a miracle within itself."

"Not quite, I managed quite well under your leash."

"Until you left in the middle of the night, remind me why that was again?"

"Later." he grinned, his fingertips brushing against her hair. "You look good Waldorf, a little on the malnourished side, but good none-the-less."

"Cut the crap Bass. Why are you here?"

"I finished travelling." he replied ambiguously.

"I want answers." she demanded.

"Then drink up and we'll go to my suite."

"You owe me at least one, out of good faith for turning up here." Chuck settled back into his seat, steeling himself like he expected a punch to the gut.

"Fine, one here."

"Are you engaged?" She had been eyeing his left hand since he arrived. There was no evidence of a band, but it meant nothing to men; he could elect not to wear one.

"No." he answered smoothly, expecting worse.

"Gossip girl sa-"

"Gossip girl also said you were pregnant a month ago."

"Hilarious." she deadpanned. "That was corrected and you know it. It's not my fault Iz can't figure out a dip stick from a pregnant test."

"I hear the father is still unknown on the wide web."

"Yet not to everybody." she cryptically answered with a smile. This was how it used to be, gossip corrected, the world summated and the lies revealed in a coffee shop between the both of them.

"If you know something Waldorf, it's your duty to share."

"You mean like how you are sharing right now?" she challenged.

"Drink up and we'll take a ride."

"And you'll answer my questions?" she asked, narrowed eyes. "All of them?" she probed.

"Any questions your heart desires."

He appeared honest, if only in his eyes.

She drank the cup down and he did the same.

She sat in the back of his called town car that he'd obviously told to wait close by and instantly pounced.

"Tell me now."

"Patience never was your strong suit."

"You're not engaged." she repeated. "There was a photo with the blast, you were in it." He remained silent, but his eyes kept roaming her. She noticed the way they lingered on her crossed thighs only to realise she was flashing the stockings his way. She changed position, reclaiming his attention.

"It's a lie."

"But there's a photo, she's wearing a ring."

"It's a lie."

Blair huffed out a breath, realising he wasn't going to tell her until they were alone.

"Are you staying in new York?" She figured that was safe to speak about.

"If things work out as I'd like them to."

"What things?" And again, he didn't answer, just passed her his grin and raised eyebrow. "Alright, fine. What did you do on your travels? Except fake getting married."

"I think you know the answer to that as well."

"You won't tell me anything!" she huffed and turned to the window. Only to remember the pattern of roads the car was taking. And it wasn't to his empire hotel. "Where exactly are we going?"

"Somewhere private to talk."

But the more turns the car made that followed her internal route, the more she presumed herself correct.

"Nate cleared out the rest of your belongings. You sold the apartment."

"It went back on the market." he simply stated. And answered where she was going. The apartment she had hit rock bottom in 10 months ago.

"And you thought it a good place for a discussion between us?" she questioned his sanity.

"I thought this was going to go to one extreme or the other, but that perhaps you'd like some familiar ground, rather than somewhere you didn't know. Besides, it's a good apartment, and the view was always spectacular."

"One extreme or the other?" Blair asked, still confused. It was just like before, Chuck had a perfect vision straight through her and she couldn't figure him out at all.

Sadness washed over her and she quietened, forgetting he hadn't given her a single answer.

"Congratulations are in order, I hear." he stated after a few quiet moment. He cleared his throat when she looked puzzled at him. "The fashion line. I heard it took off quite well."

"Oh." She hadn't even been aware he knew about that. "Thank you. My mother helped me start it. I'm looking to expand actually. I've looked at a few places but none seem quite perfect yet."

The only benefit of Chuck leaving her was that she had poured all of her free time into her career and it had certainly bloomed. She had no doubt it would have done better with Chuck's contacts and resources by her side, but it was her own creation and she was proud of it either way.

"You'll find it." He reached across and took her hand in a supportive gesture. Heat soared through her once again. It was like she had never been without him. She snatched her hand back, quelling the building hope before it could swallow her whole. For all she knew, his version of the truth could be that he hasn't married Eva, he's married 6 others as well and was now Harem king of Europe.

The town car rolled to a stop outside the very building she expected.

She stepped out, if only to get the truth and wordlessly followed him to the same apartment suite she had been thousands of times before.

As expected, she met a familiar ghost at the front door.

 _He's gone. She repeated over and over in her head. He'd truly gone._

 _His suits. His watches. His scarves._

 _Blair sat by the door, cradling his phone. She tried a thousand different password combinations before she gave up on the idea of scouring it for information._

 _He was gone._

 _He'd left her._

 _Maybe not yet. She phoned Bass industries and had simply been told he was out of town on business._

 _Her tears sped down her cheeks, chasing each other in a weak attempt to cry out the pain._

Chuck stepped through the ghost and went to the kitchen, inviting her to follow. Blair was a little slower but followed. Past the couch.

" _I did not!" she laughed._

" _You did." he swore with an overly confident smirk._

" _First, I don't snore unless I'm unwell." she voiced, straddling over his lap on the couch. "And second, if I was going to talk in my sleep, it certainly wouldn't be about you. It would be about something appropriate to my fantasies; shoes for example." she laughed, her hands in his hair._

" _You said you loved me." he grinned back. "You then started saying about how I was the best fuck you'd ever had." She laughed freely, his lips chasing down her neck and into her cleavage. "And how I was so perfect you could never imagine life without me."_

" _Now I know you are kidding." She pushed his head away with gentle hands._

" _Alright, alright. But you did say you loved me." He grinned._

" _You know that already." She smiled, sealing her lips to his._

She walked past the ghosts on the balcony.

" _You're not cold are you?" he asked wrapping the blanket further over them._

" _No." she replied softly._

" _You're not falling asleep are you?"_

" _No." she spoke again, a lie evident._

" _Come on, enough stars, time for bed."_

" _Just a little longer, it's so pretty." she whispered and turned her attention to the stars. The ones you could only see when New York had a power blackout. As was such, it was a beautiful night for star gazing._

 _They lasted another two minutes before the lights flickered back to life and the light pollution hid the stars once more._

" _Time for bed." he summed, lifting her up into his arms, bridal style, blanket included. He set her gently on the bed, moving her hair from her sleepy eyes. "Sleep." She tugged on his caressing hand and pulled him to the bed to curl up in his warmth. He chuckled, but accepted._

She sat on the table opposite the ghosts debating whipped cream as a breakfast option if it came off a human platter. Her eyes finally lifted to see Chuck pouring them each a glass of wine next to a vase filled to the brim with pink peonies.

"A bit presumptuous." she muttered softly.

"They are still you're favourite?" The confidence stated the fact, but the hidden anxiety made it a question.

"Yeah. I still love them." They both paused at the words she said, wondering if they extrapolated past peonies. "So," she cleared her throat as she accepted the glass of wine but set it on the table. "I get some answers now."

"Fire away." He downed the drink in one. Nervous?

She reserved her judgement of his actions and thoughts of a logical starting point, but all she could focus on, was the present.

"Why did you buy flowers?"

He didn't expect it to be her first question and it stumbled his mind, but he recovered.

"Guess I gambled that you'd come back here with me." he answered.

"But why bother in the first place?"

"I made mistakes Blair. I'd like to repair the damage."

What mistakes? What repairs did he want to make? What did he want from her? Friendship or more?

Time to clear up another issue.

"Explain gossip girl yesterday."

He nodded, then walked out of the room. Blair didn't know if she was to follow or if he was declining to answer but before she could think of her next move, he was back and had something in his hand, he placed them before her on the table.

She reached to spread them and let her eyes digest.

Flight records and a bill for the apartment's food yesterday.

Evidence that Chuck Bass arrived by plane yesterday morning at 0759am, ate steak and drank the most expensive whiskey listed, and was not in France to get engaged to Eva.

"You weren't there?"

"I never proposed. I told her I never would, that she was just another fling like every other woman I met on my travels. Perhaps I kept her around too long, but she had this idea that she could force my hand. She was convinced if the media thought we were engaged, we would have to stay together."

"So the photo?"

"Lame attempt at photoshop and I'm insulted gossip girl even printed this without checking."

Chuck turned his phone to show Blair two pictures. The first was Eva with a ring on smiling happily with another strange man, the second was an image of Chuck and Blair at the evening orchestra. Both pictures had stolen a body and been placed atop a neutral background.

"Okay, so, you're not engaged. What did you do for 10 months, besides bed any woman you saw?" the bitterness leaked into her tone, but she couldn't stop it.

"Ask me the other questions first." She didn't have to ask which, she knew.

"Why did you leave me?" She didn't even know if she wanted the answer. She had spent 10 months with a thousand different answers, the truth was going to shoot them all out of the water. She wasn't sure she was ready for such clarity. But she couldn't say so now. The question had left her.

"I was scared." he admitted softly, moving into the chair next to her.

"You were scared?" Anger flickered in her voice.

"We were going to the Hamptons."

"Yeah, we were." she numbly replied. "I, I don't get it."

"We had all these plans, we had projections of the next years of our lives together. I bought a house in the hamptons for you… I was happy. And then… I thought that was all, that it was going to be the rest of my life in a routine, stuck between a new York office and a hamptons house. You'd want more, you'd want marriage, you'd want kids. You'd want to move out of the city to raise them. I'd leave on business and you'd grow lonely and find someone else." Blair said nothing as he released the words she had begged to hear for so long. "And it all hit me that night. So, I took everything I needed, and I left."

"Where did you go?" she whispered, though she knew the answer.

"Anywhere that didn't remind me of you. I spent a week in a casino in Paris, a week in a villa in Tuskany, a few days in Spain. A week in Tokyo. But… I was going to come back, after two months, I realised I missed you too much."

"So why didn't you."

"You went on a date with Seamus Paul." he spoke, his jaw clenched. "Gossip girl plastered it everywhere, you looked so happy in the pictures, I knew I couldn't come back if you'd finally found someone who could give you everything you wanted."

"So you went back to France."

"I met Eva."

"What went wrong?" she asked bitterly. Not really caring for the answer.

"A month ago, I told her it was finished, I was coming to win you back."

"A month ago when gossip girl said I was pregnant?" The timeline was too much of a coincidence for it to not be linked.

"Inspired, Eva made up some claim she was carrying my child. I had lawyers and doctors disproving it. I had to wait until the legal side was dealt with before I could come back to you, and ask for your forgiveness."

"So you're here to do what? Win me back and we'd go back to the scary life you had to run from?"

"I was a coward." Truth. "I should have said something. I just couldn't bare to see you look at me with disappointment."

"So you thought it better to leave and plough your way through Europe?"

"Wasn't exactly my thought at the time. But yeah." He sighed and reached out his hands to hold hers, she let him, the warmth was comforting. "Look. I messed up. Worse than I have before. And you deserve someone who won't fuck up and run to another country. You deserve so much better than me and I completely understand if you want to leave. But if there's even a chance, I'll work with it. As long as you need, as long as it takes. I want you Blair, but I know what damage I've done." She met his eyes.

"You don't know half of what I've been through these past months."

"I don't. You're right. Serena only went over the basics."

"Serena?!" She tugged her hands back.

"I called her a month ago, insisted I needed you back. She told me what I'd done to you, told me to make sure I wouldn't ever do it again. She told me I didn't deserve you. She called the police and told them my plane was carrying explosive so they'd ground it so I couldn't come back to you that night."

A whisper of a laugh leaked from Blair. She forgot how sneaky Serena could be when she wanted.

"I don't know what to do." she spoke honestly. She knew moving on wasn't an option, but was moving back healthy.

"I know what I want you to do and I know what you should do, and sadly, they don't match up." he voiced. She stood and walked to the balcony, watching the ghosts stare up at stars cuddled up in each other.

"I know what I want to do." She wanted to be back in his arms, to feel his love all around her, but the trust was gone. "I know what I should do." She should protect the heart she'd fought to save after he left. "But I don't know what to do."

"You need time." he advised, stepping up behind her, yet not touching. "Take all the time you need. I won't leave without your decision either way."

The ghosts seemed to pin her where she stood, asking her how they should proceed. Do they leave and stop haunting her with their presence, or will she let them live again?

Even the Blair by the door, dressed in her nightwear and clutching Chuck's old phone had wandered into her eyeline, wondering what would happen.

"I need time." she agreed numbly.

"You have my number if you want to talk, or yell…" He led her to the door. She could tell how much he longed to touch her, to kiss her, just to feel the way he had before. But he held back. She slipped past him, but paused in the doorway. Would she make another ghost out of her visit here today?

"Chuck?" she asked softly. "Do you… do you remember all of the good times we had together?"

"My mind won't let me forget. I feel like I see you everywhere. Why else do you think I had to leave the city?" he chuckled.

"Do you think today will be a good memory?"

"You didn't scream at me, you let me explain. I can't see why not." He grinned. She turned into him, still not touching. His aftershave flooded her senses again. She remembered all the good, everything that had worked between them. It massively overshadowed the bad.

"You'll see me tomorrow Chuck Bass, and you can do some more apologising, help me make up my mind." Finally, he smiled. It felt like he'd been holding his breath all the while she'd been there. Her lips pressed quickly to his cheek, and then she was walking to the elevator. "I do my best thinking over brunch. You'll invite me to somewhere expensive." she shouted over her shoulder. "And bear in mind you've got a hell of a lot to apologise for." She stepped into the elevator and shot him a smile, a cheeky, manipulative smile that said she had him completely under her thumb, and that he was likely to stay there for, approximately, 10 months. Things weren't as they were, they were far from it, but starting slowly couldn't hurt.


	3. Real Ending

I editted it a smudge when someone commented that my ending was very un-chuck (and I agree in some ways). I had been toying with an extra bit previously and then deleted it because I thought it was a bit too much, but I re-wrote it in again. So it's been editted to be more Bass-like.

 **Reality Ending**

Blair had woken from fitful dreams, she'd barely slept all night, yet she put on her game face that said everything was alright and dressed to look perfect. Chuck's text was perfectly ambiguous of his intention and she hadn't dared to reply in case it was a hallucination in her self-spiralling depreciation. If she was going crazy, then she was just a lady having a coffee by herself at a local coffee shop at 9am. If she wasn't, then she had no idea what to expect.

Blair checked herself in the shops windows reflection, subtly checking if Chuck had arrived early before smoothing out her skirt and entering to order a caramel latte from the young server and finding a seat where she could see the door.

She took her first sip at 8:55am, perpetually early due to Waldorf good-impression instilled behaviour. But a thought struck her, his text hadn't implied as much but what if the 'we' that should catch up was not Blair and Chuck, but Blair, Chuck and Eva.

Horror struck through her and she stood, coffee in hand, ready to bolt. There was no way she was ready for that.

"Leaving early Waldorf? I haven't even ordered yet." Chuck Bass, master manipulator and wordsmith had challenged her to stay and discuss and she wasn't going to back down.

"Needed more cream actually." she lied, but stood and made her way to the counter again. He followed quietly. There was no sign of Eva anywhere in sight and it calmed her.

He ordered a black coffee; some things don't change, and followed her to the booth, sitting opposite, like he had so long ago. Only this time, they weren't meeting over a plot to overthrow a teenage girl who had crossed her. "So," she voiced softly, when he didn't immediately begin talking. "You're back in new York."

"Business." he answered.

"You living in France?"

"Mostly." He nodded, his eyes seeming to evaluate every question and every stitch in her clothing.

"Are you staying in New York long?"

"No, I have to get back."

"Oh." _To Eva_ her brain supplied for her. They both seemed to read that in the silence. "You wanted to have coffee." she stated instead, turning this back onto him. He asked for it, surely he has something he wants to discuss.

"You eat this morning?" The curveball knocked her off her mental balance. What the hell?

"You wanted to have coffee to discuss what I had for breakfast?!" she whispered incredulously.

"Humour me." He grinned. That perfect grin that had her floored.

"Yes. I ate." Blair decided pleasantries were over. "What do you want to say to me?"

"What did you have?"

"Seriously?" she hissed. "I can't believe you."

"You look thinner."

"And you look engaged." She jabbed her gaze at the wedding band on his left hand. "So say what you need to and we can go our separate ways."

He had the shame to take a moment, to reflect on himself.

Blair was only maddening, Chuck Bass did not reflect! Chuck Bass retorted with great wit, a tease, a flirt and a smile.

"I wanted to come and tell you in person."

"That I look thinner?" Both knowing he didn't mean that, but she took joy in being purposefully obtuse. "Congratulations, you've done it." she snarked, ready to walk out but too curious about his reasons for being here to do so yet.

"That I'm getting married, Blair."

Both fell silent.

Blair looked down at her latte, she no longer wanted to drink it. But if she started turning it away now, she'd continue for the rest of the day with other food. She forced herself to take a sip, insistent that Chuck would not make her ill again.

"Gossip girl said as much." Blair finally spoke, noting Chuck wasn't going to.

"I wanted you to hear from me."

"Why?"

"I owe you an explanation."

"Yeah." She couldn't be polite and disagree like decorum wished her to.

"She's… She's perfect Blair." Blair felt the dust of her broken heart crumble further. "So different than other women." Blair knew a ghost that had said that to her as well. "I can't imagine being without her." Yet again, there was a ghost who swore that to her too.

"So you proposed." she summed, her voice quiet so he wouldn't hear the waver or crackle.

"She wants to meet you." he announced, reaching across to take Blair's hand. Blair was too numb to recoil it like she wanted to. "I told her all about you, everything you helped me through. She wants to meet you, something about thanking you for the man I am." he chuckled softly, like he didn't agree completely.

Blair felt a click in her brain, something that made her Waldorf composure crack. "She's always wanted to visit new York." he beamed. "But, I, have something better that might interest you." The crack ripped into a hollow, her smile slipping from her pinned face. "Eva works for a fashion magazine, she mentioned your branch of Waldorf designs and they'd love to do a feature on you." Blair felt a whole chunk of her façade drop away, she was relatively sure she was scowling on the outside too now. If Chuck noticed, he didn't show it. "And, there's this," He reached into his inner jacket pocket to pull out rolled up photos and prints. "Rendi fashion house has just been ran under after management changes, the entire workshop is up for sale." The implication was clear, but he stated it anyway. "I can be your financial backer if you want to do this on your own, but you could set up in Paris, in the heart of the fashion world. Establish yourself from your mother's line."

He sat quiet as he let it sink in. He must have been expecting her to look through the photos, maybe expecting questions, but she sat there like a stone.

"So, that's why you're here?" she finally spoke, her voice low and clearly controlled to an enormous degree. "To offer me a business proposition and play friends with your fiancée." He wisely said nothing, he didn't even raise an eyebrow like the old Chuck would have. "You're not going to even give me any explanation for that." She pointed a finger to the wedding band. "Not going to try and finally excuse you running out on me ten months ago?"

"Blair, that's no-"

"You said to me you would never marry anyone. You said I was the closest you had ever come."

"Blair, I never meant to hurt your feelings. I wanted to tell you before it became public knowledge, so you wouldn't feel like this."

"You ran out on me. You abandoned everything between us to find this woman?"

"Blair, if we're going to talk about this, at least be reasonable, and don't make a scene."

Half of her told her to dump the coffee on him, slap his face and walk out screaming about his infidelity. The Waldorf half that held on by a single strand in her cracked heart, told her to stand, smooth out her skirt and walk out without a word.

She walked the line between both.

She stood and he rose with her, like the perfect gentleman had been trained to do. When he blocked her path, she spoke through gritted teeth.

"Finish your business and leave New York." She tried to leave around him, but he reached out for a hand. "You left New York for France. Go back to France." she hissed at him. The hidden text was clear, Blair was New York, Eva was France. He no longer had a place in here. Her heels tapped like the beating of the drums in hell as she stormed out. She carried on down the sidewalk for six blocks before she had the presence of mind to hail a taxi back to her suite.

As soon as she walked into Apartment 34, the ghosts that resided there were forced to banish. Blair threw her clutch and shoes at each of them. Her closure came with red hot tears and an unrivalled anger. The bastard didn't even have the balls to tell her why he left her. Had the gall to marry that twiggy bitch with her blonde hair and leggy legs. Blair stormed to her bedroom and instantly started her clear out, albeit violently.

The box of Bass was kicked down the stairs, everything his spirit had tainted was sailed down to meet them. The bedding, the wallpaper, the cushion, the lingerie he'd seen.

Fuck it, everything.

Blair tore her bedroom apart, everything kicked to the bottom of the stairs until her bedroom was bare.

She cried out the last piece of Chuck and rebuilt the legendary Waldorf composure once more.

The control came back into order with a list.

First, black bags. Everything Chuck was going in a black bag and was going to be taken to be incinerated by Dorota on her next scheduled cleaning day. Second, she was going to phone Serena to cry, bitch and organise a shopping spree to replace everything with something new.

Third, she was going to finish that bottle of wine and watch Audrey until Serena came over.

* * *

It was four full years before Blair and Chuck met again.

She was walking out of Bergdorf's with bags loaded on her arms, a cell phone negotiated on top of her purse and shoved against her ear.

"Yes, I remembered." She was telling someone. "As if I could, you'd shoot me." she laughed, it sounded so carefree and blissful. "Oh, ah, I'm slipping." she complained, catching a bag with her elbow. "I've gotta go before I end up losing my designs on the pavement. Yeah." A hand stretched out to catch the falling bag and Blair looked up to her saviour only to find Charles Bass. Everything inside her stopped for a moment. It took a second to reboot her brain into the fact she was on the phone. "Of course." she replied, a numbing echo of surprise in her tone, she sounded miles away. "Completely fine…" she responded to the phone after a pause. "Ill be home soon."

"Busy day?" he asked with a smile, helping her re-order her bags. He spoke the same, with the same twitch of a tease. He still made her numb in her chest, still made her heart beat extra fast and still flashed all of those once good memories through her mind.

"Yeah." she answered without thought before remembering her manners. "Congratulations by the way." A healthy baby boy had entered the Bass family a few months ago. "How's Eva?" Politeness had been taught and raised in her, it came like an automatic response to feign interest. Blair honestly didn't care about Eva, but it was the right question to ask.

"She's good, has her hands full being a mother." He passed her back the bag he'd caught for her. She took it slowly, making a point of not touching him "And congratulations to you as well. I just heard the news about your designs; they're beautiful."

"I only found out myself a few days ago. It hasn't even gone public." she admitted, collecting the bag back onto her arm. Had he been keeping tabs on her? When she'd been working so hard to avoid everything to do with him; not easy when you run in the same circles.

"It's all about who you know. Besides, I had a feeling it wouldn't be long before we heard of Blair Waldorf dominating the designing arena." She smiled without feeling. It was all too easy to submit to the urges to wrap her arms around him, to tell him how much she missed him and how much she envied the woman he _had_ chosen.

"It's not set in stone yet." she modestly replied. A silence hovered over them. "Are you, ummm, you out shopping?" she asked, rolling on the conversation, not quite ready to lose the few seconds in awkward silence.

"Scouting actually." He pointed to the building next to a hairdressers. It had once been a bank, then a jewellers, now a failing estate agents.

"Your next target?"

"The business more than the building."

"You really will own all of New York." she muttered under breath, but he heard it clearly. He may be living in France, but he still had dreams of owning the big apple. She remembered all of the dreams he'd told her as they basked in the afterglow of overwhelming sex.

"Not all of it." he corrected. "There's a corner of the clothing design market I'm willing to let flourish on its own." His subtlety was noted. "Though, if there was anything I could do to assist it, I'd only be a call away." He took a business card out of his jacket pocket, extending it across. Her eyes caught the long fingers of his left hand, instantly pinning an absense of a wedding ring. Her mind ran a million possibilities, but only one stood front and centre: Chuck Bass hadn't changed. It was relief that flooded her; someone else hadn't walked away with her prize. Shame that collared her shortly after for even thinking as such. He had a child now, with another woman. Blair's eyes could see the impression of the ring pressing out from his jacket pocket, she could smell the perfume of another woman and make out the badly wiped off lipstick stain on his collar. "Blair?" he prompted, lifting the card to her eyeline.

Blair looked down at it, half of her wanted to cling to it to embrace the possibility that she could have the second chance to be everything he needed and everything Eva couldn't be. The other half (the more sensible one) thought of her new life with its new prospects. She couldn't throw that all away for a man that had ran from her and into marriage (however shambled it was) and a child. She took a breath and stepped back ever so slightly.

"I shouldn't." she stated, eyes cast down. "Thank you, but this is one thing I'd like to do on my own." She knew if she fell back into his world, she'd end up where she was four years ago; damaged and desperate. Chuck was perhaps right all those years ago when he'd said she was the only one he could see himself marrying, but his attempt with someone else had closed that door entirely with her.

"I understand, but if you do ever need a hand I-"

"No. Thank you." She smiled at him and stepped back again. "I hope your business goes well." She nodded at the estate agents door. "And I'm sure your son will be one of the most eligible bachelors of New York in no time." She caught a glimpse of her town car sliding up to the pavement. A town car she'd hadn't called for. She rolled her eyes at it, her new life was calling. She was going to answer, however much she wanted anything else. She owed it to the future. She owed it to Chuck to let him fix whatever mess of a family he had.

"Blair… we should have coffee… catch up." He looked at her with eyes full of questions and intrigue. She knew the full extent of what Chuck was offering with that sentence. She used to love the way he'd insinuate a lovers tryst in between normal and PG-friendly suggestions. She could swear she heard the exact same tone right now. So desperately did she wish to pick up a verbal spar of back and forth to fall back into old patterns, routines and cascades of kisses down her skin.

"Miss Waldorf. You shouldn't be carrying all that." Within a few seconds, her driver was taking bags from her arms. It brought a burning reminder and a shocking shame for her thoughts.

"I didn't call for you, and I really am fine. I can carry a few bags." Her answer was defensive, a little too defensive for mere chivalry, Chuck noted.

"Louie called, Miss. He said you were overrun with shopping again." Now, with the balance swapped and all her bags in her driver's arms and being herded into the town car, Chuck got a good look at Blair noticing a difference. Blair's usually toned and flat stomach was a curve he was only too familiar with.

"Congratulations." he spoke automatically. Gossip girl knew nothing of this, Blair had probably worked hard to keep it that way.

"Thank you." she whispered, but paused at the door. He obviously noted.

"You sure I can't tempt you with a coffee, decaf?" He could tempt her very well and he probably knew it. But the ache in her chest that wanted to be with him hadn't ebbed, the hurt and betrayal still stung. If it wasn't for the life growing in her, who knows what she would have said, perhaps instead of settling for a gentleman she could have had the king of New York that was staring into her eyes like they were teenagers again.

Or perhaps he would just break her all over again. Just like he was breaking Eva right now. Chuck Bass burned through women and left them in ashes. She wouldn't sign up to play with his fire, however warm and passionate it could be.

"Goodbye Chuck." she simply replied, stepping into the town car. She watched out of the tinted windows as he stood on the sidewalk and watched the town car pull away. She turned in her seat to see his eyes follow the car into traffic. She waited until he was cut from line of sight before she relaxed back into the seat of the car.

A hand ran across her belly.

It wasn't the life she dreamed for herself as a child. It wasn't what her teenage self wanted. It wasn't the 100% she had craved in her heart as an adult.

But it was safe.

Chuck crossed the road, heading back to his suite, but found himself outside Antonio's, watching the ghosts in the corner booth end all chances of their happily ever after. He could almost hear the way she was cracking apart as he continued. He watched his bold Blair's ghost storm out of Antonio's and thunder down the streets. He blinked and rubbed his eyes. Something bloomed in his chest, it felt heavy, if he wasn't smarter, he'd say it was regret.


End file.
